SUCCESS STORY

Lowering energy costs through on-site generation: Maclean’s Highland Bakery

Maclean’s Highland Bakery is a fourth-generation family business producing baked goods for local and international markets. They needed to reduce energy costs while continuing to grow responsibly and support their community roots.

Impact at a glance

• Reduced electricity costs by £17,000 per year through solar and voltage optimisation
• Generated around 33% of electricity on-site with solar panels
• Cut carbon emissions by 12.6 tonnes CO₂e annually

The business

Maclean’s is an award-winning family owns bakery business founded in 1978 by Campbell Maclean in Forres in Scotland. Over the years the firm has expanded and now makes a range of baked products at its modern bakery for both local, national and international markets with four shops locally and commercial customers as far afield as Denmark, the US and Australia.

Sector: Food manufacturing

Region: Scotland

Size: 100-150 employees

Why they took action

The Maclean family are proud of the firm’s community roots (many of the staff are local people who have worked in the business their whole careers) and reputation for artisan baking and believe that acting responsibly while growing the business is part of this. The firm started out with small measures to save energy and reduce waste, and over the years these small actions led the business to explore other ways to be cleaner and greener.

“Once we were on the low carbon journey, our focus has always been on simple steps, the things we can influence in our own business. It’s all been about getting our own house in order, and not being distracted too much by the bigger global picture.” – Lewis Maclean, Managing Director

What they did

Medium cost actions

Installed LED lighting.

Significant capital investment

Installed 192 solar panels, generating an average of 65,000 kWh a year, equivalent to about 33% of total electricity use.

Installed voltage optimisation equipment.

What difference it made

Cost savings

The solar panels reduced electricity demand from the grid by about 25%, reducing electricity costs by about £12,000 a year. The voltage optimisation equipment reduced electricity costs by about £5,000 a year.

Payback period

6.8 years for the voltage optimisation equipment and 5.8 years for the solar panels.

Carbon savings

The two measures combined are estimated to have reduced the firm’s carbon footprint by about 12.6 tonnes CO2e a year.

How were the changes funded?

The firm secured a grant from Highlands & islands Enterprise to cover 20% of the cost of the solar panels. Business Energy Scotland provided financial support for the voltage optimisation.

Lessons for other businesses

MacLean’s shows how manufacturing business with modern facilities can use well-established energy saving technologies to deliver significant cuts in electricity bills.

Find out more about Maclean’s Highland Bakery